Central Management (ZL)

The Central Management of the Federal Ministry of Finance is headquartered at Johannesgasse 5 in Vienna's First Municipal District.

Secretary General

Stefan Imhof

Pursuant to Section 7 (11) BMG, the Secretary General is entrusted with the summarised handling of all transactions within the scope of the Federal Ministry.

DG Administration - Governance and Services

The Governance and Services is primarily responsible for all tasks related to the management of the department and the central office.

Director General Elisabeth Gruber

The core tasks of the Governance and Services include securing internal operations, controlling resources and all associated processes, the infrastructure and all of the company's public relations activities.

Strategic Objectives

• Efficient and effective use of resources in the department
• Optimal presentation of the department to the outside world
• infrastructure management
• Controlling and governance of investments

Range of activities

• Public relations and communication
• Protocol and event management
• Central management personnel management
• Building and facility management
• Procurement and procurement matters
• Coordination activities with Parliament, the Council of Ministers, the Court of Auditors, other departments and local authorities, among others
• Participation management
• Dispositions of immovable federal property
• IT coordination for the department
• Multi-project management
• Agendas of the federal budget act of the finance department and preparation of the federal draft budget

DG I - Corporate Management

DG I - Corporate Management is a strategy consultant and service provider, helps to shape the transformation process of the organizational culture and fulfils the task of securing revenue in a modern, customer-oriented and efficient manner.

Director General Angelika Schätz

Directorate General I sees itself as a motor of reform and is actively shaping the ongoing development of the Ministry of Finance and the entire federal administration. This is reflected in the broad range of tasks, which consists of specialist agendas, coordination tasks and support services.

Service orientation and customer satisfaction – based on innovation, creativity and efficiency – play a decisive role in a modern and networked society based on services, which also includes the public sector. Best-trained and highly qualified employees are the essential prerequisite for this. In addition to personnel management, Directorate General I of the Ministry of Finance bears the central coordination responsibility for the creation of optimal working conditions and for the resource use in the Ministry. This includes the continuous development and modernisation of the organisational structure and the forms of work, as well as efficient, timely area management. Administration is not an end in itself; it must adapt to the needs of society – not vice versa.

In Directorate General I, performance and resource responsibility converge. The areas of Administrative management and organisation of the Tax and Customs administration, as well as of Anti-fraud Measures, which are responsible for performing the taxation, consider the safeguarding of the tax revenue and the execution of tax law as core tasks. They are responsible for the strategic planning of goals and resources, ongoing management and continuous development of the tax and customs administration (tax and customs offices, large-scale company auditing, tax investigation, financial police). The financial administration pursues a target-group-adapted tax compliance strategy for private persons and entrepreneurs, which includes effective and efficient anti-fraud measures as well as measures that make it easier for honest companies and taxpayers to meet their fiscal obligations easily and unbureaucratically.

Strategic objectives

• Efficient and effective use of resources in the department
• "Long-term": strategic human resource management
• Consistent optimization of administrative processes in tax administration
• Securing the tax revenue
• tax compliance strategy tailored to the target group
• Design tax administration customer and service-oriented

Range of activities

• Human resources management, health promotion
• Risk management
• Administrative management and organization of tax and customs administration
• Legislative Matters of the Gambling Monopoly
• Anti-fraud measures
• Organization of IT procedures for tax and customs administration
• Customs Law, Customs Policy and International Customs Affairs
• Tariff management; Trade policy instruments; Organisation of international projects and programs
• Tax ombudsman service and citizen service
• Player protection

DG II - Budget and Public Finances

The Directorate General for Budget and Public Finances assumes overall responsibility for the Austrian federal budget and its goal is to achieve sustained consolidation of public finances. 

Director General Maria Ulmer

The core competence of the Federal Ministry of Finance is its overall responsibility for the Austrian federal budget. At an administrative level this responsibility is assumed by the Directorate General for Budget and Public Finances. Its task is to ensure that public funds for the fulfilment of public functions and the provision of public services are used in an efficient, economic and effective manner by applying the principles of budget management, namely transparency, efficiency as well as true and fair view. The Directorate General for Budget and Public Finances draws up and executes the federal budget and is responsible for the financial relations of the federal state with its political subdivisions, social security institutions and the EU.

Strategic objectives

• long-term and sustained consolidation of public finances
• safeguarding "value for money" by structural reforms in areas of budgetary relevance

Range of activities

• Preparation and execution of the federal budget
• Shaping domestic financial relations and co-ordinating the budgetary policies of the Federal State, the provinces and the municipalities
• Representation of Austrian interests with regard to the EU budgetary policy and responsibility for financial flows between the EU budget and the Austrian federal budget
• Support in developing and introducing structural reforms and New Public Management tools in the area of federal administration

DG III - Economic Policy and Financial Markets

"The Directorate General for Economic Policy and Financial Markets Duties deals with economic and financial policy at the domestic and international level. In times of crisis in particular, it plays a key role in handling upcoming challenges."

Director General Harald Waiglein

The DG Economic Policy and Financial Markets deals with economic and financial policy at the Austrian, European and global level and plays a leading role in the preparation of supervisory and financial market legislation. Economic policy instruments are developed based on Austrian interests, and take into account domestic and international debate.

Strategic objectives

• Acting as a centre of competence for economic and financial market policy to develop analytical strategies and optimally implement them based on overall economic considerations
• Optimally introducing Austrian economic and financial market policy interests into the international debate and playing an active role in policy development
• Creating an optimal framework for Austrian financial and capital markets as well as domestic companies.

Range of activities

• Preparing economic policy foundations and analyses (macroeconomic policy, structural policy)
• Coordinating Ministry of Finance positions on issues of European integration, EU expansion and trade policy
• Managing Austria's shareholdings in International Financial Institutions (IFI)
• Establishing initiatives in the Austrian financial market
• Financial Market Committee, a joint platform of the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA), Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian central bank – OeNB) and Austrian Ministry of Finance
• Introducing Austria's interests into the international debate, in particular in the areas of banking, capital market and insurance law, and the transfer of EU law into national law
• Ensuring conformity of national law with EU law in the areas of banking and capital market law
• Accepting state responsibility, and state responsibility policy of the Austrian federal government
• Defining criteria and standards for the acceptance of state responsibility
• Administering the hallmarking system
• Strategic orientation of export promotion and export financing
• Accepting export liability in close cooperation with the Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB)

DG IV - Tax Policy and Tax Law

Directorate General IV deals with all areas of tax policy and tax law. It prepares strategic legislative measures at the national and international level and creates a basis for uniform implementation nationwide. 

Director General Gunter Mayr

Tax law at the highest functional level is especially important during times of increasing internationalisation and competition, and during the economic and financial crisis.

Directorate General IV has a broad range of responsibilities that include, for example:

• Tax policy
• Tax revenue estimation
• Income tax and corporation tax
• Payroll tax
• Value-added tax
• EU tax harmonisation
• International tax law
• Property tax and real estate transfer tax
• Capital transaction tax
• Stamp duties and legal transaction fees
• Insurance tax (incl. motor vehicle-related insurance tax) and motor vehicle tax
• Consumption taxes, tobacco monopoly
• The NoVA (Normverbrachsabgabe) motor vehicle tax
• Energy taxes and energy tax refunds

Strategic objectives

• Concepts for a stable, sustainable, fair and equitable tax system
• Ensure the tax system is efficient and implemented uniformly using directives and decrees
• Secure Austria's position as a location for business and maintain its competitive international tax position
• Exchange technical information internationally on tax policy developments in other countries
• Improve ethical tax behaviour to ensure appropriate tax revenues

Range of activities

• Preparing a list of possible tax reform measures
• Preparing detailed tax policy concepts
• Analysing measures with respect to budgetary and economic effects
• Preparing laws and regulations in all areas of substantive tax law
• Preparing information specifically for citizens
• Exchanging information on experience with substantive tax law in other taxation systems
• Concluding double taxation agreements
• Representing Austria in international bodies

Directorate General VI - Mining

In addition to the official activities of the mining authorities, Directorate General VI covers a wide range of diverse topics and bids and sees itself as a service centre and point of contact for industry.

Director General Andreas Reichhardt

The mining authorities are responsible for enforcing the Mineral Resources Act (MinroG). In addition, the Mining Sector is responsible for fundamental matters of Austrian mineral resources policy and fundamental technical matters. Another focus is on industrial policy relating to mining and the mining industry for the heavy and basic materials industry (crude oil, natural gas, cement, plastics, raw materials transport and transport safety, hydrogen and the profit, conversion, storage and transport of methane).

Directorate General VI is also responsible for the Regional Innovation Systems, which aim to implement digitalisation and innovation projects with a regional focus and establish funding initiatives. Security research primarily supports Austrian entrepreneurs in the development of new technologies, while technology transfer aims to increase the share of domestic cutting-edge technology in exports.

In this way, Directorate General VI aims to actively contribute to strengthening Austria as a business location.

Strategic Objective

• Supporting the raw materials industry to increase competitiveness
•  Coordination and expansion of security research to increase administrative efficiency
• Support for and promotion of digitalisation and innovation projects in the context of broadband and 5G expansion

Range of Activities of Directorate General VI

• Research funding
• Support for technology transfer
• Official activities of the mining authorities (Mineral Resources Act)
• Representation on international committees
• Digitisation projects

• Digitalisation projects